Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. resigns

Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr., who has received a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and has been under federal investigation, will resign from Congress on Wednesday.

Aides to House Speaker John A. Boehner said Mr. Jackson sent his office a letter with his intent to resign.

In his hometown of Chicago and in Washington, the decision puts an end to five months of speculation over the political future of Mr. Jackson, a Democrat and the son of the civil rights leader bearing the same name, who had vanished from Congress and public view since June.

Still uncertain for Mr. Jackson is how a criminal investigation into his possible use of campaign funds on purchases for his home may turn out. Already, even before word of Mr. Jackson’s decision began spreading, political figures in Chicago were scrambling for the seat, which Mr. Jackson had occupied for nearly two decades and is now expected to be filled through a special election.

Only a few weeks ago, he won 63 percent of the vote in his district on Chicago’s South Side and its southern suburbs on Election Day, even as he remained, his representatives said, under treatment for bipolar disorder at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. By a week after Election Day, Mr. Jackson had departed from the Mayo Clinic, clinic officials said.

Once talked about as a future United States senator or mayor of Chicago, Mr. Jackson’s circumstances have unraveled in the last few years.

Separate from the federal investigation into Mr. Jackson’s campaign fund spending, a House ethics investigation has continued over Mr. Jackson’s actions in 2008, when he sought an appointment to fill the Senate seat vacated when Barack Obama won the presidency. As part of an inquiry into actions by former Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois, who is now serving prison time for trying to sell the appointment to Mr. Obama’s senate seat, federal authorities said they learned that a close friend of Mr. Jackson had offered large campaign contributions to Mr. Blagojevich if Mr. Jackson was given the Senate job. Mr. Jackson, who has said he was unaware of his friend’s offers, has acknowledged hoping to join the Senate but has denied wrongdoing.

In early 2012, even as that ethics investigation went on, Mr. Jackson faced a primary challenger, former Representative Debbie Halvorson, and ran one of his most active, aggressive campaigns in many years. In the March primary, he soundly defeated Ms. Halvorson with more than 70 percent of the vote.

But by June, Mr. Jackson dropped out of public view. His office initially reported that he was suffering from exhaustion, but his representatives eventually announced that he had been hospitalized for bipolar II depression, a condition that was apparently complicated by a weight loss surgery he had undergone in 2004, his office said, changing the way his body absorbs substances including medication.

Around Labor Day, he returned to his Washington home to recuperate, his aides said, but remained absent from work and the campaign trail, and not long before Election Day, he returned to the Mayo Clinic for additional treatment. Meanwhile, reports emerged about the federal investigation into Mr. Jackson’s campaign funds, including accusations that money had gone to decorating Mr. Jackson’s home in Washington D.C.

Voters, it seemed, did not care, particularly given the strong Democratic-leanings of his district and a group of little-known opponents who challenged him. While Mr. Jackson’s margin of victory was not as large as it has been in some years, it was decisive; he won 63 percent of the vote, compared to Brian Woodworth, a Republican, who received about 23 percent and Marcus Lewis, an independent, who got about 13 percent.

Standing on the driveway of his home in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood the other day, Scott Onque, 49, said recently that he voted for Mr. Jackson because he was the only Democratic candidate, and because no accusations against him have been proved. “We’d rather go with what’s tried and tested than what we don’t know,” he said.

The congressman’s illness and absence from the district was a separate issue. “I think we need to give a person a chance to get better,” Mr. Onque said, adding, “It’s still his show.”

Still, as reports of investigations continued to emerge, some in the area said doubts have begun to creep in. “I think it’s misguided loyalty,” Bridgette Bynum, 45, said of Mr. Jackson’s election victory. “Many people feel sorry for him or something,” she added.

In recent days, many around him — including his Congressional aides and political strategists — said they knew little about the legal circumstances swirling around him. He and his closest allies mainly have stayed out of public view. His wife, an alderman in Chicago, did not attend a City Council meeting earlier this month, and no traditional election night event was held to celebrate his victory.

Instead, Mr. Jackson’s office had issued a statement of thanks on Nov. 6, as the polls showed him winning a 10th election. In it, Mr. Jackson made no mention of legal issues and spoke optimistically of returning to Congress.

“Everyday, I think about your needs and concerns,” Mr. Jackson said in the written statement. “Once the doctors approve my return to work, I will continue to be the progressive fighter you have known for years. My family and I are grateful for your many heartfelt prayers and kind thoughts. I continue to feel better every day and look forward to serving you.”

Still, in recent weeks, many in Chicago had begun speculating about Mr. Jackson’s future — and about possible replacements in Congress. Under Illinois law, if Mr. Jackson were to resign, Gov. Pat Quinn would have five days to set a special, general election date to fill the seat. That election must take place within 115 days of the governor’s announcement so a primary could come even sooner.

Not long after Mr. Jackson’s re-election, Mayor Rahm Emanuel suggested that he needed to end his silence soon.

“I do think it’s essential that the congressman, who has been out for a while, begin a conversation with his constituents about his intentions,” Mayor Emanuel said on Nov. 15. He had sounded a more forgiving tone when it came to Alderman Jackson, who had missed several meetings, including one in which the city’s new budget was voted on. “All of us know that this is a unique moment in time for her as both a spouse and a parent, let alone as an alderman,” Mr. Emanuel said. “And she’ll make those decisions.”

Publicly, leaders for months deemed it premature to think about who might eventually replace Mr. Jackson in Congress if he were not to return to work. But behind closed doors, the jockeying has appeared to be well under way. Alderman Carrie M. Austin, an Illinois Democratic Party committeewoman from Mr. Jackson’s district, said party leaders in the state have been quietly considering possible replacement candidates as the notion that Mr. Jackson may soon step aside becomes more of a possibility.

Among those considering a run for the seat in Congress: Samuel E. Adam Jr., a defense lawyer who represented former Governor Blagojevich in the corruption case that had raised questions about Mr. Jackson in 2008. “Whatever you want to say about Congressman Jackson, certainly he’s done some things in the Second District, but ever since the Blagojevich stuff came out everything has been focused on him and not the people he’s supposed to be representing,” Mr. Adam said in an interview this month .

Last modified: November 21, 2012
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